11/17 Practice Recap: Devils land in Winnipeg for matchup with Jets

Schneider will get the start Saturday in Winnipeg

WINNIPEG, MB - It was a short but sweet practice on Friday for the Devils.

The team held a 35-minute session as they prepare to take on the Jets in Winnipeg on Saturday afternoon. Cory Schneider will get the start Saturday, while other lineup changes will be decided later on Friday.

At practice, the lines remained the same from the game against the Maple Leafs, which would mean, if coach John Hynes plays the same lineup, Pavel Zacha, Jimmy Hayes and Dalton Prout will be the healthy scratches.

The Devils are coming off being shut out by the Maple Leafs on Thursday night, when they lost 1-0 in overtime. It was the second time this season the Devils have been shut out by their opponent.

"We have to make teams chase us more in the offensive zone," said Hynes. "We have to access the net, we've got to move the puck a little bit more - low to high to get some shots and maintain our possession time. And then we have to do a better job at getting to the net front, and when we get to the net front have a real sense of purpose there."

Meanwhile, the Jets are preparing for the Devils with a certain fact in mind: The Devils are fast.

"It's going to be close to the fastest game that we'll play all year," said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. "This is the fastest team that we've seen."

Hynes is pleased team speed is getting noticed, because it is a major part of the identity he has tried to build this season.

"It's nice," said Hynes. "That's one of the things we've tried to build here from day one. To try and get faster and be a more aggressive team. We feel like we have that so it is nice the guys have bought into that and have the skills sets to play fast."

The Jets are no slouches themselves. They have the likes of Patrik Laine on their team, who possesses a wicked shot and scoring ability. Laine has nine goals and five assists for 14 points in 18 games for Winnipeg this season. He's the third leading scorer on the team behind Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler.

"His release is about as good as it gets," said Schneider, when asked about Laine's shooting ability. "I've only seen him a couple of times, but he's had some good looks on me. I think he's scored a goal at least. He hits his spots, he's not reckless."